Back in May, Waterloo hosted the spring session of the semi-annual Pragma Council, a business and planning conference discussing issues that affect the quality of life in Canada from economic growth to the environment to development and land-use change.

The approach this spring was to focus on a developing issue in the academic world of geography and planning to address the real-world challenges presented. Youthification, a process studied by Professor Markus Moos and his research team was the topic of exploration.

The report Youthification: The New Kid on the Block was prepared as a thought-leader piece, summarizing the state of the literature on the factors influencing young adults' residential location patterns. The report outlines various explanations for the increasing concentration of young adults in central areas, dubbed "youthification" and it presents information to help anticipate future housing and transportation patterns and affordability concerns.

The document is the first in the School of Planning Working Paper Series from the University of Waterloo and the first of hopefully many more Pragma Council Discussion Papers which act as thematic glue, holding the Pragma Council Conference together.

The School is currently building a home for these working papers. I've received several requests for the report in the past few month so I thought I would make it available while its permanent home is still under construction.

You can download the report below or check out the cover page, which also has a link.

Also, check out the Generationed City website. It is a great resource, with articles documenting the ways that considerations of age and generational status shape social space and mark divisions in the ways that cities are experienced. The site hosts a wealth of data, links to the latest research and a repository of maps detailing the residential location of Millennials in 57 cities throughout the United States and Canada.